Avenged Sevenfold bring the Stage World Tour to Ottawa

There was no shortage of a crowd at the Canadian Tire Centre for Sunday night’s Avenged Sevenfold show. Unsure of what to expect in terms of crowd size for a Sunday night, I was pleasantly surprised by a decent crowd for the first set. Bullet For My Valentine was first up on the bill and went on just after six, which is quite early, but the crowd was excited and ready for the night to begin. Groups of those on the floor were eagerly awaiting the headliners, while many were clearly fans of all three bands. The Welsh heavy metal band got the crowd going, encouraging those on the floor to start moshing they traced back through their bands history for songs. Tornado pits quickly grew in the crowd and bodies began surfing around those with tickets on the floor.

After a quick turn around on stage, Breaking Benjamin was up. Before they even got going with their set I could tell that they were going to be a visually appealing performance. The drum kit was raised high above the band at the back of the stage. Small lifts were near the front for the other band members to climb onto or jump from. As soon as the music started CO2 loaded smoke cannons shot from multiple points on the stage, which continued throughout the set. Midway, the band broke into a melody of “Star Wars Imperial March” which flowed into Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” All of which was happening as they placed a drum kit out on the end of the catwalk. As I predicted this was a visually packed set and the crowd ate it up.